Vania



(No Model.)

A. Y, ANDREWS8I; H. BURK.

BLANK FOR POGKET BOOKS.

No. 256,094. Patented Apr. 4,1882.

UNITED STATES PA ENT OFFICE.

ADOLPHUS Y. ANDREWS AND HENRY BURK, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYL- VANIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE BURK MANUFACTURING COMPANY, (Ll'M- ITED,) OF SAME PLACE.

BLANK FOR POCKET-BOOKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 256,094, dated April 4,- 1882.

Application filed February 9.0, 1882. (N model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ADOLPHUS Y. AN- nREws and HENRY BURK, citizens of the United States, and residents of Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania, have invented certain 1mprovements in Skived Blanks for Pocket-Book Cases, &c., of which the following is a specification.

The main object of our invention is to relieve pocket-book makers, book-binders, easemakers, and others from the duty of skiving by hand the leather blanks which they use as coverings in conducting their business; and this objeot'we attain by furnishing these artisa ns, at a comparatively cheap rate, with readyskived blanks of a quality much superior to those skived by hand.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a leather blank (flesh 2 o side up) for a small pocket-book; and Fig. 2,

an exaggerated section, showing the uniformity in thickness of the reduced portion of the blank.

Heretofore it has been the practice of pocket-book makers, book-binders, and moroccocase makers, in preparing leather for covering purposes, to first cut out blanks of the desired shape from the skins, then moisten the blanks, and finally reduce or skive them on the flesh 0 side oft-he leather at the defined place or places where they have to be folded, glued, or pasted, this sklving operation being performed by hand with a sharp knife. The operation thus conducted is tedious, the skived surface is always more or less uneven, and the reduced portion is always wanting in uniformity of thickness. The leather, moreover, is frequently cut through, and is often defaced or otherwise deteriorated by the preliminary I 2 moistening.

o relieve the above-mentioned artisans from this duty by furnishing them with readyskived blanks of a quality much superior to those which are reduced by hand in the usual way.

. The desired pattern, giving the shape of the blank and showing the parts which have to be reduced, having been received by the manufacturer of the blanks, pieces conforming in shape with that of the pattern are cut from the skin or sheet of leather, and these pieces are then reduced in thickness Wherever reduction is required, this skiving or reduction being effected by means of a rotating drum covered with abrading material-such, forinstance, as that shown in our Patent No. 242,579, dated June 7, 1881.

The ready-skived blank shown in Fig. 1 is for a small pocket-book, the skived or reduced portion being represented by the shade-lines, and the plane or unshaded surface indicating the parts of the blank where the leather retains its original thickness.

It will be understood that the drawings give one example only of our improved blank, and that blanks of many different shapes will be required for different uses, all, however, possessin g the same characteristics.

Our improved ready-skived blank possesses several advantages over those skived by hand. First, the reduced portion is of uniform thickness throughout, there being no ridges or other inequalities, such as are due to the action of the ordinary skiving-knife; second, the blank is entirely free from the cuts which frequently appear in ordinary skived blanks; and, third, the reduced portion of the blank has a downy or plush-like surface, due to the action of the abrading-roller, and this surface has an' especial affinity for the glue or paste by which the folded portions of the blank are secured in book-binding and in making pocket-books, &c., the reduced portions of the blank being thus more promptly and securely connected than ordinary knife-skived blanks.

Further advantages of our improved blanks are the clearly defined limit of the reduced portion of the blank where it meets the unskived portion and the fine surface presented, owing to the fact that no moistening is required preparatory to the skiving operation.

WVe claim as our invention- As a new article of manufacture, the within-described ready-skived blank of morocco or thin leather, the said blank having a defined portion or portions reduced uniformly in thickness, and the reduced portion or portions presenting a downy or plush-like surface, as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ADOLPHUS Y. ANDREWS.

Witnesses: HENRY BURK.

HARRY DRURY, HARRY SMITH. 

